Teaming up shoulder-to-shoulder with our notorious ally from the land of the rising sun, this is ‘An Eastern Alliance’ by Oldblue Overalls and Samurai Jeans.

 

THE STORY

Our most-anticipated collaboration denim with Samurai Jeans Co., Ltd. Hailing from Japan, Samurai was founded in Osaka in 1997 by Tetsu Nogami (Nogami-san), one of the most renowned personas in the denim world. They’re easily among the most notable denim labels in the world. Inspired by the famous duel of 1612, Samurai channels the legend of warriors Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi to create warriors with their own way through high quality dungaree, filled with particular details, and made with the most enticing denim fabric ever made.

This is the first-ever collaboration we’ve ever done with a fellow denim brand. And honestly, we just can’t ask for a better partner. Being a denim-head in the early 2000s, we just can’t help but be inspired with all the qualities and particularities Samurai have to offer in the denim industry. One way or another, they assisted us in shaping who we are and what we aim for. An opportunity to work hand-in-hand with your own role-model, well, we just can’t miss it for the world.

THE PHILOSOPHY

We fully realize that the spirit that Samurai try to convey and deliver is derived from a warrior’s duel, you can easily see it physically from their brand assets (leather patch, flasher, etc). But towards this collaboration, we’d like to bring a new kind of dimension. Instead of clashing with each other, both of the characters we created here (each one ‘em representing our brands) are going side-by-side and shoulder-to-shoulder in embattling a common enemy. In line with the big picture that we try to carry towards this collaboration; AN EASTERN ALLIANCE.

THE FABRIC

Samurai are surely famous with their impressive and unique denim fabric assortments. So, when we had to choose what kind of fabric that’d be used for the collaboration collection, we had to choose it very carefully, and instinctively to some extent. We decided to use their signature 21 OZ. / SQ. YARDS ‘CHO-KIWAMI’ heavy-weight selvedge denim. It’s such an astonishing fabric to begin with. Heavy ounces denim but constructed with extra-long staple cotton composition (40% Pima cotton, 60% Egyptian cotton). Making it a robust heavy denim with a more refined and subtle hand feel. Safe to say the risk of your legs getting’ scuffed when wearing the denim is highly reduced.

The other heavy consideration why we hand-picked the denim fabric is also because we have a plan to combine it with our own signature 21/23 OZ. HEAVY WEIGHT denim (you often hear it referred as the ‘Beast’). It falls into the similar denim weight range, so the denim build result won’t have any odd disparity and bizarre asymmetry.

Can you catch the difference between 2 fabrics?

We also utilized our trademark 21/23 Ounces ‘Beast’ fabric on this coin pocket part.

The thickness of the denim weave is also quite similar, so they’ll go together nicely shoulder-to-shoulder; just like the spirit of this collaboration. Well, you can see how well they turned out together. We utilized our 21/23 Oz ‘Beast’ denim fabric for the right back pocket and coin pocket part of the denim build.

THE FIT

The denim was built using Samurai’s signature S710 CUT. A denim pattern that has a nice and clean slim straight fit as its main offering. Came with a medium rise, this kind of cut is what you need to wear daily for any duty and occasion.

Built with our favorite cut from the entire Samurai’s patten range. The 710 Cut surely has this high level of versatility.

If you’re an early adopter of the denim craze here around 10-12 years back, you’ll be quite familiar with this Samurai cut. As it’s the most favorite cut of Samurai back in those days. So yeah, we’d also want to bring back the good ol’ days nostalgia sensation towards this collaboration.

THE DETAILS

This special OBXSAM denim dungaree surely has lots and lots of favorable details that you can expect from both of us. We designed a special arcuate stitch that’ll be exclusively used on this denim only to begin with. We combined the original Samurai’s Yamato arcuate design with Oldblue’s signature ‘double-looped’ arcuate design, resulting in this beautifully drawn arcuate that’s able to reflect each of the brand identities.


Samurai’s Yamato Arcuate + Oldblue’s Double Looped Arcuate

Yeehaw! How smooth is that curve?!

The leather patch artwork is also specially designed. As it’s one of the physical branding assets on the jeans that’s able to directly deliver our message towards this collaboration, you can clearly see what we try to do on the artwork.

The special ‘OBXSAM Kisouma Selvedge’ leather patch.

Each of the brands is represented with its respective character. Oldblue is represented by the Lone-Ranger Cowboy and Samurai is represented with, well, Samurai. Each one of them are carrying their most deadly weapon and goin’ neck and neck to face the common enemies. If you look closely, you can also see the different landscape behind the characters. The leather patch itself was made using Samurai’s original sheepskin material which has this nice grain and a quite sturdy hand-feel to it.

You can find the nice Oldblue’s black horizontal tab on the right side of the back pockets; where we utilized our 21/23 Oz signature denim. And of course, the Samurai’s indigo horizontal tab right across, on the left side of the back pockets. To top it all off, we designed the special Oldblue X Samurai collaboration woven label to be sewn on its center waist-band. You should already fully aware by now that we don’t leave any little details behind towards this denim build. What’s the fun on goin’ halfway, right?

Oldblue’s signature copper plated Scovill button & Samurai’s special gold pine buttons.

The rivets on coin pocket was trimmed using Oldblue’s 100% copper rivets from Scovill.

The hardware trimmed on this denim also shares the same shoulder-to-shoulder spirit. We put Oldblue’s signature copper plated Scovill button for the top button part and Samurai’s original gold pine buttons for the fly buttons. The coin pocket part is also pretty special. Aside from the Oldblue’s 21/23 Oz denim used, we also made it with the signature Oldblue’s looped stitch and trimmed it with the Oldblue’s copper Scovill rivets.

The other ‘small’ yet worth mentioning details lies on the denim construction. If you’ve been following us for long enough, you’ll know that we always (except for the ‘repro’ styled jeans) use these as part of our signature stitch constructions; the double felled inseam and the two-tone chainstitched hem. Although this jean is single-felled, you can see the double row stitch as the accent of our regular double-felled inseam. We also used the same thread color combination; navy for the outer row and gold for the inner.


2 artworks on the flasher with 2 different POVs or angles. The Cowboy & Samurai battlin’ the common enemies shoulder to shoulder!

Last but not least, we also made a couple of very special flashers for this special OBXSAM jeans. Instead of 1 artwork, like the usual, we made special 2 artworks for the flasher design! The story behind it also shares the same exact kind of spirit that we try to carry towards this joint-work. Where instead of duelling, each of our characters sharing the same battleground shoulder to shoulder. The difference between the artworks is the ‘Point-of-View’. One highlighting the Cowboy character (while the Samurai character on his back), the other one is just exactly the opposite point of view.

THE CONCLUSION

It’d take other multiple paragraphs to describe and list all the specialties on this ‘Kisouma Selvedge’ limited edition denim. All in all, this denim is best described as the result of a joint-work, joint-mind, and joint-effort between two brands which are just so sincerely passionate about quality denim and everything it comes with. It’s no surprise at all when we work together, the output will be something closely correlated with admirable quality jeans, made with flabbergasting selvedge denim fabric, constructed with redoubtable technique and experience, and filled with so many discreet and thoughtful details.

And it’s our real honor to have the chance to collaborate with one of the most respected denim brands in the whole world. The whole experience was nothing but a beyond valuable thing for us. To be able to work shoulder-to-shoulder (just like the spirit of our collaboration, yes, so pun intended) with Samurai will be a forever unforgettable experience for us and of course, being one of our proudest milestones we’ve ever achieved in this blue denim industry.

THE PRE-ORDER

~ We’re currently taking pre-order starting from Sep 24, 2021 15:00 WIB
~ The OLDBLUE X SAMURAI – 21 OZ KISOUMA SELVEDGE will be available in RAW and ONE WASH (OW) version
~ We’ll be taking either FULL DEPOSIT and HALF DEPOSIT payment for the pre-order. With the FULL DEPOSIT payment having better deal pricing.
~ For the HALF DEPOSIT payment, you’ll be paying half of the full price directly on checkout, and the other half will be billed to you right before shipment.

Snatch up this precious collaboration, take benefits of its pre-order perks and get a pair here : OLDBLUE X SAMURAI – 21 OZ KISOUMA SELVEDGE